Huckleberry Finn Dbq

A conversation about literature shaping novels would be incomplete without mention of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The novel has bold ideas and interestingly new story telling style. The novel takes place around the young narrator, Huckleberry Finn, and the runaway slave on their journey to freedom. The setting is 1830s Southern United States, along the Mississippi river. Huck runs away from his alcoholic father who had kidnapped him for his money, and allows his hometown to believe he is dead. Following Huck’s disappearance, Jim runs away and is a wanted slave. The two meet up on an island but are driven off by men looking for the runaway slave. They begin their journey down the Mississippi river to gain their longed emancipation. Along

Jim was a resident at the Miss. Watson’s home as a slave. Huck, who had been raised in the South, was expected to believe that all blacks are inferior; therefore, he believed that Jim could not be his equal. The only things lesser than trash in the eyes of 1830s Southerners, were blacks. In document E, Huckleberry believes the one wickedness was helping a slave [Jim] escape from slavery. He had even began to write a letter of Jim’s whereabouts to his owner, Miss. Watson. By turning him in, Huck would be appeasing the law. Jim had been the house slave at the home Huck had been living at and never actually had the chance to know Jim; therefore, he would always be that mysterious slave if it were not for the long journey down the

Huck had a plight while on the run with the runaway slave, Jim. Harvesting and helping a runaway slave was a crime, but Huck just could not let Jim go. Huck cared immensely for Jim as any friend would. That much was a risk worth taking to Huck. In document E, Huck says, “‘All right, then, I’ll go to hell’ -and tore it up.” The letter in which Huck tore up was a letter to Miss. Watson selling out Jim’s location. He had written it during a dilemma he was having, he did not know if he should do what was the legal thing to do, or the thing that felt best. Ultimately, friendship is what saved Jim from being recaptured. In document B, Jim also refers to Huck as a friend. That is when Huck began to see him as an equal. Towards the end of their journey, Huck saw that just because of the skin color difference, that the two of them were no different. They had both left home for the same reason, and the same reason brought them down the Mississippi, igniting a